White House, GOP Mark Health Reform Anniversary

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration and congressional Republicans both noted the 6-month anniversary of the health reform law on Wednesday, but with markedly different takes on the milestone.

At the White House, President Obama began the day by meeting briefly with members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to discuss how to implement some of the reforms included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which he signed into law on March 23.

The president then visited Paul and Frances Brayshaw in Falls Church, Va. Paul Brayshaw, 36, is a hemophilia patient who will benefit from one of the provisions of the law.

Brayshaw was born with a severe factor IX deficiency. He faced a crisis in 2006 when his healthcare costs exceeded the $1-million lifetime benefits limit on his employer-provided insurance policy. His employer stepped in to solve the problem, "but it was a significant stress for me and my wife," Brayshaw said. "The ACA will remove the shackles; I won't have to depend on the job for insurance any more."

Obama told the crowd that when he campaigned for the presidency, he heard many stories from people who had lost their health insurance or were being bankrupted by healthcare costs. "And what I said to myself and what I said to my team was even as we were dealing with this big crisis -- immediate crisis with respect to the economy, we've got to start doing something to make sure that ordinary folks who are feeling insecure because of healthcare costs, that they get some relief."

With the law's passage, "we are now actually able to provide some help to the American people," he continued. "Part of the Affordable Care Act that we can implement right now ... is the most important patient's bill of rights that we've ever seen in our history."

Several of the provisions of the ACA take effect on Thursday, the 6-month anniversary, including:

Lifetime limit ban.Health plans can no longer put a lifetime dollar limit on the benefits of people with costly conditions.

Coverage for children with preexisting conditions. Health plans cannot limit or deny benefits or deny coverage for a child younger than age 19 because the child has a preexisting condition.

Coverage for young adults. If a parent's health plan covers children, the parent can usually keep the child on their policy until the age of 26 if the child doesn't have coverage on the job.

Coverage for preventive services. New health plans must give enrollees access to recommended preventive services such as screenings, vaccinations and counseling without any out-of-pocket costs to them.

While the president was touting the benefits of reform, the GOP Doctors Caucus, a group of Congressional Republicans, held a press conference on Capitol Hill to denounce the law.

"In just six short months, the new law has punished American families and businesses with higher premiums, fewer choices, and threats of future tax hikes," caucus co-chair Tim Murphy, PhD, of Pennsylvania, said in a statement released after the press conference. "Instead of fixing our broken healthcare system, the new law finances it. We need to pass real reform that improves the quality of healthcare delivered in America."

"The last six months have just confirmed what many of us knew before the bill was passed: expanding government control of healthcare is the wrong way to fix the numerous problems that were created by prior government interventions," caucus member and former presidential candidate Ron Paul, MD, of Texas, said in a statement.

"Congress must repeal this bill and replace it with free-market and constitutional healthcare policies that put patients in charge of healthcare," he said.

Meanwhile, Politico reported, House Republicans announced that on Thursday they will release a set of changes they propose for the country, including a promise to "repeal and replace" the healthcare law.

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